School Support System: A Collaborative System of Focused Monitoring

The Office of Student, Community and Academic Supports' monitoring of special education is aligned with federal IDEA legislation. Moreover, the School Support System addresses the Comprehensive Education Strategy and the R.I. Student Investment Initiative. These are state general education initiatives designed to close gaps in student performance and prepare students for the 21st century.

System Design

The School Support System is designed to align with best practice efforts and supports the following beliefs and assumptions:

An assigned category or level of special need does not define the educational needs of students.

To the maximum extent possible, students with exceptionalities are meaningfully included in the general education program.

The curricula are based on standards that are sufficiently broad to support the learning needs of all students and include academic and skill areas.

Individual Education Plans reflect state and local standards for student performance, incorporate varied assessments, and utilize a broad array of accommodations for testing and learning.

A comprehensive system of professional training must support and encourage the involvement of all personnel in addressing the learning needs of students with the full range of abilities and exceptionalities.

Approach and Goals

The School Support System integrates multiple sources of information in order to develop a support plan that is directed at increasing student performance and is founded on proven practice. Moreover, RIDE's Office of Student, Community and Academic Supports seeks to create collegial and collaborative relationships with the school district/educational setting, thereby involving the entire district/educational setting in evaluating the quality of special education services. As a result, the process delineates the district/educational setting’s strengths and needs, culminating in the development of a plan to improve service delivery.

Our goal is to implement agreements and verification in a timely and systematic way to get corrective actions /support planning instituted in order to assure continuous high performance of all children.